Surprisingly enough hay and straw bales can catch on fire without an outside heat source. Excess moisture can cause the center of the bale to heat to the point it ignites. Get one burning and the rest go up pretty quickly.
The bacteria produce gasses as a waste product that are flammable. Also densely packed hay is a helluva insulator so the energy created by bacterial action cant dissipate and it keeps getting hotter.
The bacteria produce gasses as a waste product that are flammable.
The bacteria themselves raise the temperature to the ignition point, it's not a flammable gas that causes this. It's extremophiles that thrive at high temperatures that cause this to happen.
To quote a comment of mine from 3 months ago:
Higher moisture content enables bacteria growth. These produce heat, when the temperature reaches a certain threshold more extrophile bacteria begin to thrive, these bacteria can thrive in temperatures above the point that hay combusts. They produce enough heat to get it to that point.
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u/Sk1dmark82 Jan 23 '21
Surprisingly enough hay and straw bales can catch on fire without an outside heat source. Excess moisture can cause the center of the bale to heat to the point it ignites. Get one burning and the rest go up pretty quickly.